Courses Courses

This is an advanced-level course that facilitates discussion of the visual language of lighting for photographic processes in the larger context of contemporary art, photography, cinema, and digital media. Building on skills learned in Fundamentals of Studio Lighting, Advanced Studio Lighting expands the student’s knowledge of controlled artificial light. This course emphasizes the process involved to produce a portfolio of both portrait and product images, in a coherent body of work based on a theme, concept, or selected subject matter. The course focuses on how photographers and filmmakers use lighting as an element of storytelling. Students investigate the theory and practice of lighting within the history of photography and cinema lighting design. A component of the course engages students collaboratively to develop and execute lighting for a variety of scenes, presented for peer critique. Coursework also includes regular screenings and discussions of films, written papers and lab exercises. Prerequisite: PHV292 Fundamentals of Studio Lighting.

This course will examine advertisements in the print media with respect to various elements, including: economic and social class; race; ethnic identity; age; gender; and sexuality. The course begins with an introduction to the method of analysis called semiotics, the techniques of which will be used to determine how advertisements convey their messages and how they address themselves to particular consumers. In addition to the elements outlined above, we will discuss several recent controversial issues. While this course will not center on a history of advertising, it will treat the historical place of print advertising in a capitalist consumer culture. Interventionist tactics by various artists that attempt to subvert the economic and ideological function of ads will also be examined. Visual Culture Emphasis course.

This course covers African American art from the late 1700s to the present emphasizing the formal qualities of art as well as the social and cultural contexts within which it was created. Lectures and assigned readings are drawn from the scholarship of art history, literature, anthropology and history. We examine works by U.S. Artists of African descent and others who engage aspects of African American life and culture. Visual Culture Emphasis course.

This course will necessarily focus on American crafts. However, an effort will be made to incorporate other expressions (especially non-Western) into the mix too. For example, there are readings in Adamson on the Scandinavian slöjd system, Bauhaus aesthetics, the Japanese concept of mingei, the Indian notion of svadharma, the Mande blacksmiths of West Africa, and subversive (feminist) stitchery, in addition to writings by Anni Albers, Karl Marx, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ellen Gates Starr, George Nakashima, Carole Tulloch, Garth Clark, and many more. Visual Culture Emphasis course.

This art history course provides an introduction to the visual art traditions of sub-Saharan Africa from ancient cultures to the present. Lectures and readings are drawn from art historical scholarship as well as from other disciplines (anthropology, archaeology, visual culture studies) that provide a sense of the social, political and religious contexts within which the art was created and used. The study of African art from a Western perspective presents questions that are covered in class: When and under what circumstances did “Africa” as a concept emerge? Did Africans consider their works “art” in the same sense that Westerners use that term? How did Western museums acquire African art and how does that inform the way we understand African works? In what ways did colonialism, the spread of Islam and Christianity, pan- Africanism and post-colonial movements affect artistic production? How do we understand modernism in an African context? Fulfills non-Western or cross-cultural art history requirement. Visual Culture Emphasis course.

This course is required for sophomore Biomedical Art majors and is also open to elective students on a space-available basis for studio or liberal arts social/natural science credit. The course is designed to strengthen the students’ understanding and use of figure anatomy within their work. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of biomedical art, the course will have two complementary components. These components reflect a multidisciplinary approach to muscular anatomy and figure drawing. Study in this area is designed to provide the student with a good grasp of muscular anatomy as it strongly relates to drawing the figure and its proportions. This course will provide the student the opportunity to interpret anatomy knowledge by working directly from the model and human cadaver from CWRU Anatomy Department. This course is designed to provide the student with a solid basic understanding of muscular anatomy as it relates to surface anatomy, proportion and movement of the human figure. The course incorporates lectures on anatomy, figure proportion and drawing techniques linked to direct and accurate observation of the figure model and cadaver model. Offered spring.

Ultimately the success or failure (i.e., life or death) of any individual animal is determined by its behavior. The ability to locate and capture food, avoid being food, acquiring and defending territory, and successfully passing your genes to the next generation, are all dependent on complex interactions between an animal's design, environment and behavior. This course will be an integrative approach emphasizing experimental studies of animal behavior. You will be introduced to state-of-the-art approaches to the study of animal behavior, including neural and hormonal mechanisms, genetic and developmental mechanisms and ecological and evolutionary approaches. We will learn to critique examples of current scientific papers, and learn how to conduct observations and experiments with real animals. We will feature guest appearances by the Curator of Research from the Cleveland MetroPark Zoo, visits to working animal behavior research labs here at CWRU. Group discussions and writing will be emphasized. Cross-registration at CWRU required.